Andrew Coventry

The new chair's foundation seems to have been regarded with a good deal of jealousy: the professor of natural history protested that he was not to be hindered thereby from teaching 'any branch of natural science,' to which the professor of botany objected as infringing his rights; Coventry, for his part, insisted that none but himself had the right to give 'a separate course of georgical lectures.'

In spite of these obstacles Coventry became, on 17 November 1790, the first professor of agriculture in the university, and continued to hold the post until 1831.

[3] Coventry gave evidence before the royal commission appointed in 1826 to investigate the condition of the universities and colleges of Scotland, when he said that he had delivered thirty-two courses, some of them, consisting of more than 140 lectures each.

Although the subject he taught was not available for a degree granting graduation, he had attracted classes varying in number from thirty to seventy-eight.

It is often overlooked that one of his star pupils was none other than John Claudius Loudon, a person that can be safely described as the father of professional horticulture.

In fact his, An Encyclopedia of Gardening has been praised by Sir Jeffrey Jellicoe, as "The first book to treat the subject comprehensively from this historical, technical, aesthetic, and horticultural points of view."

The royal commission, which concluded its labours in 1830, recommended among other reforms that the chair of agriculture should be abolished 'unless a class could be provided for it, and taught regularly.'